We had a Merlot and had a terrible job convincing the insurance company that it wasn’t a Gleneagles as that 's what their ‘system’ called it.
Mind you the same insurance company called it a 4 seater!
On that occasion we had 5 certificates where they kept making mistakes(and this being a very well known insurer!)
Hi Roadie.
Finally got round to up loading my photos from Chatsworth. Hope this completes you collection from the rally. On the suject of V5 details, I have checked ours and it is registed as a ‘MX5 Merlot’, seems strange some are registered as Gleneagles!
Regards Mike
Thanks Mike. Added your picture to the original post. My V5 quotes mine as a Merlot too. Mine is a '97 model year with the cranked indicator and wiper controls. Might be interesting if Roadster Robbie could get this info on his register to see if it is model year or VIN number related.
Paul
Hi,
Ours is a 96 model with straight controls, I didn’t know there were any other things other than the later steering wheels different. With reguards to VIN numbers it would be intresting to see if they ran consecutively, then we could work out what number our cars are in the production run. I noticed that some limited editions have plates with their numbers on them. Just a though.
Regards Mike.
Must admit I didn’t know myself until I had a forum chat with Mr Merlot. The story goes that the production of the Merlot spanned the '96, 400 cars, and '97, 200 cars, model years. This year change marked the change from the straight arm to the cranked arm column controls. It also saw changes to safety regs which meant that the steering wheel had to be changed to the PU version with the impact absorbing centre. I believe that there were also some changes in the air filter piping arrangement under the bonnet. Would be interesting to compare one of each sometime to see what the differences are. Don’t know of any other differences but if anybody has any more info then I’d like to hear from them. I would guess that the incorrect DVLA classification as a Gleneagles is more likely to be related to registration dates than to VIN numbers but we will probably find out when Roadster Robbie has got all the info sorted. I’ll let him have my info over the weekend.
Paul
I have already e-mailed Robbie with our details. Very intresting to know there are more differences that I first though. This has jogged my memory about a chat I had with another owner at last years national rally. He said my seats should have piping of a similar colour to the body colour, but mine have very dark grey or black piping. The previous ower said he had changed the seats because the old ones were torn and he replaced them with seats from a later Merlot that had been written off. So possibly this could be another difference.
Mike.
My main reason for the resgisters is to link the Special Editions to the VIN numbers. From the VIN’s I can obtain production dates. Changes to things like the indicator stalks can be worked out from VIN’s but I don’t intend to put that much specific information in the register.
The seat piping on mine is a black backgroung with ‘Melot’ colour flecking over the top. I would imagine that it would be almost impossible to get anything resembling this for re-trimming. I have seen seats that have been re-trimmed and the choice seems to be to go for a solid black or something close to body colour. One strange thing that I noticed when comparing cars with 'Mk1 Merlot was that while my seats are wearing well but the piping is worn away in places, his seats have some worn patches but his piping is immaculate. I suppose that being a natural material the leather is going to vary in resistance to wear. If pieces of the leather piping come away then the white plastic shows through which looks very unsightly. Where mine has worn I have coloured the plastic with a black marker pen. Makes it far less obvious unless you look really close.
I’ve added engine numbers to the register for those that have a record of them. Also removed the request for all personal info.
While at Chatsworth last year I had the pleasure of spending some time chatting with Dave Young aka ‘Youngy’. He was the owner of the beautiful Merlot H11GKP which he loved and cherished just as much as it’s previous owner Mr Merlot. I was shocked to receive an e-mail from his partner Yvonne to let me know that he had passed away last week. It’s only a couple of months ago that I was chatting with him via the forum about what he had been doing to the car and he was really looking forward to meeting up with everyone at Billing Aquadome. You meet some lovely people through the club but none more so than Dave. Next time you are out with the sun shining and the roof down don’t forget to look up and say ‘Thank you Dave’.
Very sad news indeed!
Julian
Hi Mike
Remember just over two years ago when I thought I had posted pictures of all the Merlots at Chatsworth but managed to miss yours? Well I’ve just spotted it this morning in Wickes car park in Lincoln. My Merlot is about 200 yards away at my tame mechanics for it’s service and MOT. Will be going past the same spot about 5.15 to pick it up again. Don’t see many Merlots about and when I spotted P28 RUL I thought, that rings a bell. Looking very very tidy from what I saw.
Paul
Hi Paul.
Well spotted. I’m working there at the moment. I was in the Merlot today because the wife uses our other car to do the shopping in on a Wednesday so it will be there on and off… Its not looking too bad at the moment, had the sills repaired a few months ago, so the rear quarters are pretty good, still a few areas could do with some TLC. Missed you at 5:15, I was on my way home by then. I think I have spotted you a couple of times on Outer Circle Road, but was driving the truck, if I spot you again I will give you a wave, so if a Wickes truck flashes you it will only be me.
Regards Mike.